For the first time in more than four years, the wife of imprisoned Chinese dissident blogger Ruan Xiaohuan—better known by his online pseudonym “Program Think”—was allowed to see her husband inside Shanghai’s Tilanqiao Prison on Aug. 22.
In a post on X, Ruan’s wife, identified publicly only as Ms. Bei, described him as shockingly thin, prematurely aged, and missing several teeth.
“He appeared older and thinner than during the trial,” she wrote. “Due to consistent exercise in the detention center, he has a layer of muscle under his skin, but he’s become so thin that his bones protrude. He originally had periodontitis, and due to a lack of vitamins in the detention center, some of his teeth have fallen out, including his front teeth.”
Despite his physical decline, she said, his mental state remained strong. The couple was given just 20 minutes together. During the brief meeting, Ruan spoke about the prison conditions, saying they were somewhat better than the detention center where he had been held, and urged his family not to worry. He also emphasized his determination to continue pursuing legal appeals.
As one of many in China who spoke out against the regime, Ruan’s plight is part of a broader pattern. Under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), no dissidents are tolerated.
Ruan, once one of China’s most influential anonymous political bloggers, was detained by Shanghai authorities in May 2021 and later sentenced to seven years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power,” a charge commonly used against those who criticize the CCP. For nearly two years after his arrest, he was missing from the public.
Under the name “Program Think,” Ruan published more than 1,700 blog posts between 2009 and 2021. His writings covered topics deemed by the Chinese regime to be sensitive, including the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests in 2014 and 2019, and detailed guides teaching the Chinese public how to bypass the regime’s internet censorship apparatus known as the Great Firewall. His work drew a large following among China’s tech-savvy middle class and earned him praise from international rights advocates.
Such topics are all aggressively censored on China’s social media platforms, but Ruan’s anonymous blog offered a venue for Chinese netizens who were interested in these issues.
Zhou Fengsuo, executive director of the U.S.-based group Human Rights in China, once described Ruan’s blog as “a direct blow against the CCP’s tyranny.”
Family Resistance Under Pressure
After Ruan’s 2023 sentencing, his wife tried to hire prominent human rights lawyers in Beijing to file appeals but said authorities pressured the family to use state-approved lawyers in Shanghai instead. She herself was briefly detained and went missing during the legal battle.
Despite threats, Ms. Bei has continued pressing the case, filing complaints over what she says was a lack of evidence and unlawful interference by China’s state security officials.
“We will not give up on continuing to fight through legal channels,” she posted on X.
Ruan’s appeal was rejected in December 2024, and in July, he was transferred from a Shanghai detention center to the relocated Tilanqiao Prison in the city’s Qingpu District.
International Concern
Rights advocates say Ruan’s declining health highlights the harsh conditions faced by China’s political prisoners.
Chinese human rights lawyer Wu Shaoping, now based in the United States, told The Epoch Times that authorities deliberately kept Ruan in a detention center for years before transferring him to prison, subjecting him to worse conditions as a form of punishment.
“In Shanghai, which is supposed to be China’s showcase city, this kind of abuse is happening,” Wu said. “Imagine how much worse it is in the rest of the country.”
Wu praised Ruan’s wife for her persistence but said the case demonstrates the futility of relying on China’s legal system in political cases.
“The law is meaningless in cases involving dissidents,” he said. “What matters is that the family’s struggle records this chapter of history. One day, there will be a moral reckoning.”
Despite the regime’s efforts to silence him, Ruan’s words continue to resonate online, with supporters inside and outside China hailing him as a symbol of defiance on X.
Gu Xiaohua contributed to this report.
